Past still Haunts
by Melrose Harper
Summary: Sixteen year old Gia Strozonni finds out she's pregnant and is devastated. She's ashamed of letting her parents down and not being able to graduate early like she had planned. What she doesn't know is something tragic is around the corner.
1. Chapter 1

The Past Still Haunts

I look up, closing my eyes and breathe in fresh water scent. I'm in my favorite spot on the beach. I am the only one in sight. Standing near the shoreline on a cold January Saturday evening is my favorite things to do. Mainly because I'm usually alone here. I always feel free from the world and its troubles. As I sit on the freezing sand, the swift wind blows my shoulder length light brown hair to the West. I admire the stars for a while, but when I see the waves approaching me, I quickly get up and start walking towards my car. On my way home, I start to lose control of the wheel. Must be really tired from work this evening. I park the car on the side of the road avoiding a casualty.

"Get a grip girl," I whisper to myself quietly looking down. I stay on the side of the road for a while until I can drive again. I try my best to get back on the road safely. Whoever said life's what you make was completely wrong. Life is not what you make it. Life does not turn out the way you plan. If life was what you made it and was supposed to turn out the way you planned, I wouldn't be an eighteen year old orphan and single mom. I wouldn't be struggling to get by daily. I wouldn't be living with my child and her father who by the way has a low paying job. As I walk in my house, my little girl comes running up to me crying. I carry her and give her a kiss on her soft cheek then ask her what's wrong, and by what I understand she tells me she's hungry.

"Where's daddy?" I ask her worried.

"Sleeping" she says only as good as a two year old can.

Oh my God, are you kidding me? I leave a toddler alone with her dad only come back home from working my butt off to find her crying for food because her irresponsible dad is sleeping. I put my stuff and her down on the couch and march straight down to my room, waking him up.

"If you can't get a decent job, the least you can do is look after Haley." I yell angrily at him.

"What on earth is your problem, Gia." He gets out of bed and rubs his eyes. "You know I'm doing my best. I made sure she was asleep before I went to sleep. She must have woken up or something. I'm sorry"

"Your sorry isn't gonna cut this time. I have had enough of your crap." I keep yelling while picking up clothes. "It wasn't my fault I got pregnant. That was the LAST thing that was supposed to happen to me and my life definitely wasn't supposed to be like this."

"Well, you didn't get raped so shut up." He says walking out. I grab his arm and tell not to tell me to shut up and walk out on me. He furiously removes his arm and starts shouting at me until we both see Haley walking in crying. I pack what I can of Haley and I's clothing, carry her and head for the front door. Scot watches us go out and doesn't say a word. He knows he can't say anything to make us stay. This has been a routine with us lately. He does something wrong, I get mad, we fight in front of Haley, I walk out the front door with her, and come back when we've all calmed down. Not a good pattern, but it stops us from doing something crazy. I get Haley into her car seat and step on it. She knows what's happening unfortunately. She knows that her mom and dad just had a blow up and because of that she won't be seeing her dad for a few days. I ask if she's all right and she nods frightfully. I tell her it's everything is going to be okay. She starts tearing up so I sing her favorite lullaby for her.

_Daddy's little girl, paints the world with her magic fingers_

_Daddy's little girl sees the world as she lingers through it_

_Her heart and her smile are made of gold_

By the time I sing it twice she's asleep. When we get to Cassandra and Jessica's house, I hurry to get my bags and Haley out of the car and into the house because of the chilly weather.

"Do you mind if we spend a few nights here?" I ask Cassandra when she opens her front door.

"You no you're always welcomed here." she tells me. "You guys had another blow up?"

"Yeah" I say quietly.

She takes Haley from me who's still sleeping and tells me to get in then leads me to a guest room and turns on the lights without saying a word. After taking Haley from her once in the room, she says goodnight and walks out the door closing it behind her. I take off my shoes, lay on the bed near Haley and sigh. My life was not supposed to turn out like this. I close my eyes and take a trip to the past.


	2. Chapter 2

Scot and I were sitting down on my living room couch waiting for my parents to get home. Scot's older sister took us to the hospital a few days ago to take a test and we got the pregnancy test result yesterday. We were nervously thinking of how to break the news to my to my parents. You see, I had turned sixteen the week before and Scot and I had only been dating for a year. Furthermore I was supposed to be graduating early in two months, but I had to change my plans because of the stupid decision Scot and I made. My mom came in first but was on the phone with her business partners. She was the owner of one of the best boutiques in Miami and my dad was a cosmetic surgeon. Right after she came in, my dad came in. He looked at us with a puzzling face, sat down and asked both of us how our school day went. We told him good in unison.

"So is there something you want to tell me?" he asked.

"Yes," I told him. "We need to tell you and mom ... together."

"You got into Princeton?" he asked clueless.

"Not exactly."

We waited twenty more minutes for my mom to get of the phone so we could just get this over with and move on. When I couldn't take it any more, I got up and grabbed her phone.

"Scot and I need to tell you something." I told her annoyed.

"Can't it wait, I was on a very important phone call just now young lady." She told me.

"No, it can't" I responded.

We both sat down in the living room and I stared at them for a moment thinking of how they would react. It's now or never, I told myself. So I spit it out as fast as I could.

"I'm pregnant" I told them.

"What?" my mom asked. I repeated myself in case she didn't hear me the first time.

"Okay, where are the cameras?" my dad asked thinking this was a joke.

"There are no cameras." Scot told him, "This is real."

There was a deep silence in the room for almost ten minutes. My dad kept staring straight at Scot until he lost his temper and got up almost about to strangle him. My mom and I quickly got a grip on him before he could do anything. He yelled at Scot to get out and never come back here again.

"But sir-" Scot started.

"GET OUT!" my dad yelled again.

He rushed outside before he could get in any more trouble. After Scot left, the housekeeper came in asking my mom if everything was okay.

"Yes, everything is fine." She told her. She then told my dad to get some air and dragged me to her room.

"Where do I even begin with you?" She started. "You know what I don't even have the time to deal with you right now because I have a dinner meeting to go to. Your dad and I will figure out what to do with you later but for now you're grounded."

She pushed me out of her way and walked out. That was the moment my life officially turned upside down. I went to my room, call Scot and make sure he's okay. Grounded in my house didn't mean no phone and friends over, it just meant Scot and I couldn't hang out with each other for a few days. He told me he's fine but we had to tell his parents the news. After I heard that, I hanged up and jumped into bed. If my parents reacted like that once they heard the news, I didn't know what his parents would do following what we would tell them. I buried myself in my bed and hoped this was just a dream before Cyndra, our housekeeper came in. She has been more of a mother than my actual mom has been this past sixteen years.

"What's wrong?" She asked sitting on my bed.

"Nothing." I told her coming from underneath my blankets.

The thing with Cyndra is even if you tell her nothing's wrong, she won't leave you alone. She has this motherly instinct that's too creepy. I used to tell her that's her sixth sense. I guess once you've been a successful mom five times, you're bound to have a sixth sense about children.

"I'm pregnant." I told her as fast as I could.

"I knew it." She said in her witty Jamaican accent.

"What?"

"The way you've been eating, walking, even talking this past few weeks just spell pregnant woman. How many weeks, child?"

"Three"

She told to come and held me in her arms, telling me though she's disappointed everything will be just fine. Later that evening when I was talking on the phone with Scot again, he told me he had already told his parents without me being there. I asked him how they reacted and he said not as bad as mine did. So my parents are the psychos in this situation. He also told me that once he turns eighteen, his parents were going to get him his own place so we could move in together and be a a family. When I asked him why, he said that was the consequence of being parents at an early age. I told him good luck persuading my parents to move in you, said goodnight and hung up before I let him give me any more sad news. Of course I didn't want to move in with him. I loved my life there. Besides I knew there was no way my parents were going to let me move in with him. We just told both our parents today and his parents wanted to shove only him and I in together with a baby when we had no parenting experience.

The next day at school was unbearable for me. Knowing I was pregnant made me react to everything. I had been having mood swings before, but now I knew why and the whole Scot situation just made it worse. When I saw him walking towards me in the hallway, I quickly went into my Biology class. After school, my friend, Cassie and I were walking towards her car when we heard Scot yelling my name. I acted like I didn't hear anyone calling me. Cassie looked back at him and then at me, confused.

"Can't you hear Scot calling you?" Cassie said. Scot ran up to us almost out of breath.

"Hey, didn't you hear me calling you?" he said trying to kiss me but I turned my face.

"Can we leave now?" I asked Cassie completely ignoring him and getting into her car. She gave him a sympathetic face and got in the car. We drove away with Scot staring at me dead in the eyes.

"What was that about?" Cassie asked.

"What?"

"Why were you being so mean to Scot just now?"

"Because I'm pregnant and grounded. I'm not trying to get into any more trouble."

"Oh."

With that the conversation ended and we had the most silent drive. Instead of driving me home, she drove me to my favorite beach. She told she thought I needed some time here and she would wait for me in the car when I'm ready. I told her no thanks, at this point I just want to go home. Once I get into my house, I see my dad waiting for me near the front door with his arms crossed and a serious face.

"Did you see him today?" he asked, obviously talking about Scot.

"Yeah, but I didn't go to him or talk to him even when he was talking to me." I told my dad sitting down.

"Good girl." He said. "Your mom and I talked this morning and decided for your own good, that we are going to switch you into an all-girls Catholic private school in Tallahassee next year for your senior year. You'll be living with you're aunt Catherine."

"What?"

"Not another word. That's our final decision and there is nothing you or anyone can do about it." He said and walked upstairs.


End file.
